A careful skill taught to young Boy Scouts was the art and craft of followship. That is, taking what is presented to you that makes you repulse! For example, a friend you want go hiking with. They show up with an overloaded pack that they can’t possibly finish the hike with. Your impulse is to react to them, show them the light! But do they learn? Or following something which they themselves don’t understand the consequences.

Scouts knew this. Our tactic was to devise of smaller hikes. Short day trips that could be easily finished within hours. We could show younger scouts what they would need, present them with a list, and then before the hike at the next scout meeting inspect their pack and make recommendations. These were our opinions as older scouts with more hiking experience. But if they wanted to bring the kitchen sink, well they should be prepared to dump it on the trail.

We weren’t supposed to be merciless, the point was teaching them the value of following directions if the outcome benefited them and advanced them to greatness. If they brought too much food, or carried too much to handle on the trail we would pack it in our sacks. This was our sacrifice to them, our “cruelty” was really our selfish wisdom that knew if we’d allow it, we’d be the one’s packing it.

Scout’s values, are available for us to understand today in business and management. Our “thought” workers and service personnel are just as much wise in knowing outcomes as leadership is in making decisions.

Trust the older scout, and dump the pipe dreams and overhead. Think small with him and value the time it takes to understand it’s value. He doesn’t like telling the younger scout “why” he’s saying no to this and that. Because he knows they’ll figure it out and it’ll be better.

That’s how we learn.

#Mimicwisdom

-r3d

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